'She's talking to that mirror again, farther?' says Misst Craddock. Father Cradock turns round slowly from the book he is eating and explains that it is just a face she is going through and they're all the same at that age.

* The exciting part was in turning up early enough so as to avoid lines and then realise that I'd forgotten my library card (having transferred everything but that to the bag I was carrying); then attempting to charm the staff to let me in without it; failing; making a mad dash back home - thank god it was a Sunday - getting the wretched card and returning with two minutes to spare and to take my place in a long, snaking line.

PS: I must be the last person in the world to realise this, but staying away from the blog - and everyone else's blogs - makes for some astonishing increase in productivity. I think I shall stick with this.

Whoa, that's quite a poetry stash you're building there. I wish libraries in India stacked more American poetry, though...

Benson's a delight. I did read most of the Lucia and Mapp books when I was in high school, and am now beginning to rediscover them on Gutenberg. The one I really want is "David Blaize and the Blue Door"; it seems hard to find. Which ones did you get?

Yes, David Blaize is kind of a Benson alter-ego. The other two books about him are about his life at school and college - reminiscent of early Wodehouse. The one I mentioned is supposed to be an "Alice in Wonderland" rip-off, which is obviously why I want it.